Haas to semis

German tennis star Tommy Haas moves into the penultimate round at Wimbledon in convincing style.

Tommy Haas of Germany has reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon after stunning fourth seed Novak Djokovic. The win for Haas was a repeat of his grass court victory over the Serb three weeks ago in Halle.

Haas will now face five-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer in the last four as he bids to reach a Grand Slam final for the first time in his 13-year career.

Djokovic squandered three set points in the second set and seemed to have trouble concentrating.

"I just couldn't relax, especially at five-all in the first two sets," he said. "I was playing very defensively and making some unforced errors."

Djokovic added that Haas deserved to win the match.

"He was serving very well ... but I was returning really badly," he said. "It was a real disaster, so he deserved to win."

Haas, 31, is the oldest man left in the All England Club tournament, but the 24th seed showed he can still burn up the lawn at the highest level with a superb display of grass court tennis.

The German sent Djokovic packing in four sets - 7-5, 7-6 (8-6), 4-6, 6-3 - with his strong serve, and some sublime serve and volley play.

If Haas can now find the right stuff to shock Federer, he would be one win away from becoming the oldest Wimbledon champion since Arthur Ashe in 1975, and join the likes of Steffi Graf, Boris Becker and Michael Stich as a German Wimbledon winner.

Federer needed five sets at the French Open last month to get past Haas, who was once the number two seed in the world. More recently, however, he has had a succession of injuries, including shoulder problems.

Haas would love nothing more than to join his German colleagues, whom he watched when he was growing up, but he also knows who he is up against.

"My next opponent is somebody that's probably going to go down as the greatest player ever," Haas said, referring to Federer. "It's going to be a tough hurdle, but we'll see what happens. It's not over yet."

gb/dpa/AFP

Editor: Sean Sinico